‘Lethal force’ against migrants

One of the issues on which DeSantis has been running to the right of Trump is immigration. In late June, he said he supported using “deadly force” against migrants coming into the U.S. who were suspected of smuggling drugs.

“You’re already on U.S. soil once … you get through the wall,” he told NBC News at the time. “You have hostile intent, because you’re obviously running drugs. You absolutely can use deadly force.”

DeSantis doubled down on his proposal Sunday, saying that “cartels are basically foreign terrorist organizations” and that “lethal force” is justified.

Burns pressed DeSantis about how he would be able to “tell good guys from bad guys, especially when folks are crossing the border under cover of night.”

“Same way a police officer would know,” DeSantis replied. “Same way somebody operating in Iraq would know. You know, these people in Iraq at the time, they all looked the same. You didn’t know who had a bomb strapped to them. So those guys have to make judgments.”

DeSantis served in Iraq and is the only veteran running in the 2024 race.

No penalties against women for getting an abortion

In April, DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban into law. Burns asked the governor “to what extent do you believe that women should be punished for violating an abortion ban?”

“Not at all,” he replied. “No, I don’t think this is an issue about the woman. I think a lot of these women, you know, are in very difficult circumstances. They don’t get any support from a lot of the fathers. And a lot of them, the number one reason why women choose to have an abortion is because they’re not getting support and they feel abandoned. Now, in Florida we’ve provided support and we’ve put our money where our mouth is, but at the end of the day, you know, I would not support any penalties on a woman.”

When asked if he would “veto any sort of federal bill that tries to put a nationwide ban in place,” DeSantis replied, “We will be a pro-life president and we will support pro-life policies.”

DeSantis also said he didn’t support limits on contraception.

“No, no, no, no,” he replied. “Contraception in Florida — we actually, our Department of Health, we provide about 100,000 people a year with access to contraception at no cost to them. And I think it should be available over-the-counter, and I think people should be able to have access to it.”